A Scarlet Death by Elaine Viets

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Angela Richman is a death investigator for Chouteau County, which means she is one of the first called to the scene when a body is found. Angela helps determine if the demise is natural or if foul play is suspected.  When she’s called to the death scene of prominent local citizen Selwyn Skipton, she finds the seventy year old lying on satin sheets in an enormous bed in an apartment decorated with paintings of nude women. Given that the body has a necktie wrapped tightly around its neck and a red A stapled (yes, stapled) to the chest, it’s pretty obvious this is a crime scene.

As Angela and Detective Jace Budewitz try to piece together what happened to the late philanthropist, they discover a secret life which may just have gotten him killed.  Meanwhile, Angela is faced with a real life decision that suddenly becomes more complicated when someone she loves is in danger.

While I had read other books by Elaine Viets, I had not read any others in this series.  I hesitated at starting with the eighth book in the series, but found I had no trouble in immediately getting into both the plot and the characters.  This is a bit darker than my usual cozy mysteries, but while the crime scene descriptions can be a bit graphic they aren’t gratuitous; the reader gets important pieces of the puzzle from the descriptons. I particularly liked seeing how the various professionals work together to process a crime scene.  More than one crime takes place during the book, and I was impressed at the way Viets manages to juggle the different situations.  As a reader, I had no trouble following the individual cases and I found the characters interesting. Angela herself is likeable, but most of all I appreciated her competence and strength. She’s a thorough investigator, tough but not too jaded.

The ending was very satisfying.  I’ll be recommending this series to others, though I will probably have them start at the beginning!

Books in this series are:

Brains Storm

Fire and Ashes

A Star is Dead

Death Grip

Life Without Parole

Late for His Own Funeral

The Dead of Night

A Scarlet Death